Tooltip Categories: Smart Money

All Texas school districts are entitled, under the Texas Constitution, to receive a designated amount from the state of Texas’ Permanent School Fund. ASF distributions go toward a district’s Tier 1 Entitlement and...

A portion of the tax rate that brings in revenue above the Tier 1 Entitlement and can generate additional state aid but is subject to Recapture. Current estimates project 60 percent of this revenue would stay in Leander ISD and...

A fund balance is like a savings account or emergency account that includes money that school districts do not allocate in budgets and hold in reserve. Fund balance is generated when annual revenues exceed actual operating...

Expenses or spending within a governmental entity – like a school district – are referred to as expenditures. Expenditures represent the spending of money. For a detailed explanation of Expenditures, visit the Expenditures...

The income of a governmental entity – like a school district – received from taxation and other local, state and federal sources. Revenues are used to finance the services provided to its citizens. For a detailed...

Average Daily Attendance (ADA) is the number of students in average daily attendance or the sum of attendance for each day of the minimum number of days of instruction.

Weighted Average Daily Attendance (WADA) is an adjusted student count taking into account student and district characteristics by which students in certain programs are “weighted” to generate additional funds.

The Basic Allotment (BA) is set by the Texas legislature, guaranteeing every school district a certain amount of funding for each student based on the Average Daily Attendance (ADA). The BA is currently set at $6,160, with...

Voter-Approval Tax Rate Election (VATRE): State law requires that school districts seek voter approval to raise their M&O tax rate above a prescribed amount. If the board adopts a tax rate that’s greater than the...

A portion of the tax rate that brings in revenue above the Tier 1 Entitlement and is not subject to Recapture, meaning 100 percent of the revenue generated from this part of the tax rate stays in the district. They are referred...